Cadmium77

I'm personally waiting for Armed Assault II...

Shock Force has the edge in graphics and the infantry is 3d not sprites like SBPPE Steel Beasts seems to allow for the larger grouping of forces up to the batallion level, but I'm not sure about SF Steel Beasts is reputed to have superior AI to SFCM I'm totally unsure which one has the more realistic map system for command overview. Steel Beasts is a lot more money that's for sure. Steel BEasts comes with a lot more documentation and seems more "real" a more serious simulator of modern warfare. It almost appears to me to be a living textbook on modern war. I'm not so sure about SFCM. This is important to me because I like to justify my gaming by reasoning that I'm studying something that will give me a greater insight into current strategic and political developments in the world by playing a sim/game. Black Shark DCS is definitely on my list this year. SBPPE seems to have a more mature and serious online presence with a lot of active duty armour guys honing their craft. So what's your verdict on my choice...I'm obviously leaning to SB, but my mind is open...$120 is a lot of money to drop on a game and if SFCM does pretty much the same thing as SB then why fork out all those resources that could be better spent somewhere else, like the massage parlour on a Sunday afternoon... [ June 09, 2008, 08:54 AM: Message edited by: Cadmium77 ]

Is it working well yet? Is the AI finally up to snuff? Not so important as the money spent on it, is the time I'll invest on it worth my while? Not trying to be rude here, just getting a feel of it from those who know. Last time I asked, over 3 months ago or so, the answer was generally "not yet". I'd like to see if this has changed...

Yeah, I've had it with WWII, particularly the war in the west. The German Russian aspect of it could be better done though; Il2 Sturmovik has blazed the path to follow. I tend to agree that the wars that are the most interesting will be present and immediate future wars. I was profoundly disappointed with the infantile Full Spectrum Warrior. Ditto for Armed Assault which while it does have some good aspects to it is just too crude for my tastes. I suppose Black Shark and Steel Beasts Pro PE and Shock Force are really the kind of games that appeal to me. Is is possible to make an original WWII game that will somehow overcome this boredom with WWII? Yes, Storm of War Battle of Britain is promising us a lot. Oleg Maddox is a genius though and so he can take any genre, no matter how exhausted and blow new life into it.

My grandmothers weren't cowards; one had 13 kids the other had 15. Tough old farm wives...

I kind of hope "WhiskeyPete" never gets brought into this game. Ditto for all other chem/bio weapons and nukes as well. Damn, that's not warfare, that's just general extermination.

I've mentioned the SPI wargame Firefight here before; it's worth purchasing just to get Dunnigan's essay it contains on modern warfare. The Battle of Chinese Farm in the Sinai peninsula during the Yom Kippur War is the paradigm for modern tank warfare, and the lesson learned there is the fragility and perhaps the obsolescence of armoured vehicles before the power of cheap hand held anti tank weapons.

I've always been impressed with this company, but now I'm in awe. ONE PROGRAMMER! *stunned*

Very kind of you Shafty but I'm in Canada. Vancouver BC to be precise. Thank you anyway.

A wee bit off topic but I can't wait for; http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/?lang=en

Thanks for all the excellent replies guys. I'll wait for the next demo then and plan to buy it when the bugs are worked out. This game reminds me so much of the old Dunnigan hexagonal board game Firefight by SPI Wargames, except in 3D. In other words it's everthing I want from a S&T game; 1.I want a game to educate me in modern tactics and weapons systems so I'll walk away with a realistic idea of political events when I read about them in the news. 2. I want a convincing in game experience that challenges my mind 3. I want an infantile childhood fun of toy soldiers...

Thank you sir. But how is singleplayer? Is the AI any good? It seems like every single game, even my all time favorite, the Total War series has serious AI problems...

I've been hearing bad things about it, frankly. I like the Combat Mission concept...it's a serious bunch of wargamers and everything I've seen from this forum puts this game at the top of my list. Obviously it's not about Crysis level graphics though the graphics look good to me. It's about strategy and tactics in real time. But now I'm hearing the pathfinding of the AI is poor. Is this true? What is the general verdict on this game? Should it be only a multiplayer game with single player vs AI just for practice and learning?

Isn't there a Stryker for each company solely devoted to Medevac? It'd be pretty cool if it went around the battle field collecting serious casualties...

So how will my AMD64 X2 3800 Dual Core, NVidia 7800GT, and 2 gig RAM rig do with Shock Force? If you don't mind me going a bit off topic from Apple computers and into requirements..

For those of you planning a new rig for this game, Intel is cutting all chip prices by 50% on April 22 of 2007. This is very good news. And NVidia's 8800GTS is down to $315, so feasably you could have a very decent dual core gaming rig for what...$600-$700?

That's actually kind of dangerous to be standing so close to that bulldozer. If the edge of the road gave way, and it certainly could have they'd have been tossed down the hillside with that bulldozer...

I can hardly believe that's possible. Surely the Stryker force will only go up to company level, not entire brigade level...